Hsbc Holdings PLC Grows Stock Position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS)

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Fortis Inc. (NYSE:FTS - Free Report) by 6.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 529,559 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 31,467 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.11% of Fortis worth $22,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Fortis by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 4,339,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,862,000 after purchasing an additional 125,447 shares during the last quarter. Natixis lifted its position in Fortis by 153.1% during the fourth quarter. Natixis now owns 12,930 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $538,000 after buying an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. boosted its stake in Fortis by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. now owns 382,098 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,884,000 after buying an additional 4,748 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Fortis by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 577,311 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $23,999,000 after buying an additional 28,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in shares of Fortis by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 584,173 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,217,000 after acquiring an additional 19,105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.77% of the company's stock.

Fortis Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Fortis stock opened at $48.59 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.47 and a 200 day moving average of $44.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 3.94 and a beta of 0.46. Fortis Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $38.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.94.

Fortis (NYSE:FTS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 14th. The utilities provider reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.08 billion. Fortis had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 14.12%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Fortis Inc. will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Fortis Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.4324 dividend. This represents a $1.73 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Fortis's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Fortis in a report on Thursday, February 13th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Fortis has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Fortis Profile

Fortis Inc operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 447,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 103,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,408 megawatts (MW), including 68 MW of solar capacity and 250 MV of wind capacity.

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